A weary narrator retreats to a mountain friend’s house seeking renewal but finds himself emotionally numb and unable to reconnect with the family. He observes the wife’s slow convalescence, the daughters’ domestic roles, and his own indifferent routines, while memories of earlier warmth contrast with present estrangement. A youthful daughter’s playful probing reveals his fragility and his incapacity to explain persistent fatigue. The prose focuses on intimate domestic detail and introspective observation to examine themes of alienation, memory, illness, and the limits of consolation.